Colac Herald » Equestrian

Trainer switches to Lara

Aidan Fawkes — Thu, 13 May 2010 23:04:22 +0000

Colac’s leading horse trainer Daryl Cannon will switch to Lara’s state-of-the-art equine centre to prepare his stable stars during winter.
Cannon will travel from Colac to Lara to allow his starters access to horse treadmills, water walkers and swimming pools during south-west Victoria’s colder months.
The decision sparked rumours Cannon had abandoned Colac as a training venue, but Colac racing officials this week hosed down the speculation.
Cannon, who trains 17 horses including country cup star Bourbonstreetblues, was trialing upcoming jumper Jedephrae at Yarra Glen yesterday and was unavailable for comment.
But Western Otway Racing group manager Karen Van Kempen said Cannon’s decision was a positive for Colac Turf Club.
Van Kempen said Cannon using Lara’s centre was a reflection of his professionalism as a trainer and showed there was demand for improved training facilities in Colac.
“There’s probably no doubt that him abandoning Colac could be the view of some people however we all know, as do the trainers, that the continuation of training at Colac is purely on a maintenance basis only,” Van Kempen said.
“The industry has made it clear there will be no injection of funds for capital works at the venue,” she said.
“We had to fight hard to keep it as a training venue. The industry, rightly or wrongly, has decided to put their money into training centres, which Geelong is one.”
Van Kempen said Colac’s only similarity with Lara’s centre was sand tracks.
She said she believed Cannon would still use Colac for track gallops and said Racing Victoria Limited would list Cannon’s starters as emanating from Colac.
“From our standing it’s a reflection of the professionalism of Daryl to access the best facilities he can through the winter months when, evident at lots of training centres with the rain and everything else, facilities get compromised because of the wet,” Van Kempen said.
Colac Turf Club has a long-term vision of establishing a multi-million dollar training facility at Colac.
The facility could service the likes of Cannon and would help attract new trainers to the district.
But Van Kempen said the idea was still in its infancy and was unlikely to receive RVL’s financial support.
“Any plans would be the result of negotiations between the turf club and private investors,” Van Kempen said.
“It’s something that’s being explored. It’s probably in its infancy stage,” she said.

Riders face state’s best

Amelia Grevis-James — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:09:26 +0000

Colac district will be well-represented at a Pony Club state championship competition this weekend.
Elliminyt’s Sarah Robbins and Irrewillipe sisters Erika and Michelle Cole will compete at a Victorian Pony Club eventing state championship at Tonimbuk, in Melbourne’s South East.
The three girls, who are members of Colac Pony Club, will compete against the top riders in the state in a Grade Two class.
Sarah, a Year Nine student at Colac’s Trinity College, said she was prepared for the weekend after a long lead-up.
“I am getting there, it is a lot to get the tack ready and keep the horse going in full work, especially with the rain we have had lately,” she said.
Sarah said her horse, Key to Prosperity, was new to eventing but showed promise in the cross- country phase.
“It is our first time competing at Grade Two and the jumps are bigger, the dressage is more complicated and the standard is higher, you really have to perform because a lot of the people you are against are much older,” she said.
Michelle, who is completing a dental nurse traineeship in Colac, said keeping her horse Kahlua Fudge fit had been the key to her preparation.
“The dressage we have had to work on a lot,” she said.
“His strongest phase is the cross-country and he has had quite a bit of experience at Grade Two as this is our third state championship competition together.”
Michelle will be competing against her sister Erika, a relative newcomer to Grade Two eventing who rides track work at Mark Young’s racing stables.
“It should be a good weekend, we are looking forward to spending the time away together as a group,” Michelle said.

JUMP: Elliminyt’s Sarah Robbins gets in some last-minute practice before heading to this weekend’s eventing state championship.

Complex could host trial

Aidan Fawkes — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:16:19 +0000

A Camperdown equestrian complex could host selection trials for Australia’s 2012 Olympic riding squad.
Equestrian officials will consider staging an event at Camperdown to help select Australia’s London 2012 Olympics team.
National selector and Camperdown event director Barry Roycroft said Camperdown was similar to the venue for the Olympic equestrian events, London’s Greenwich Park.
“The national selectors are looking for horse and rider combinations that can compete successfully on hilly country,” he said.
“At the moment we’re concentrating on the World Games in October but in our forward planning Camperdown is going to become an important venue for horses hoping to go to London.”
Mr Roycroft and Australian chairman of selectors Seumas Marwood got a first-hand look at the venue during a Camperdown two-day event at the weekend.
Mr Roycroft said officials would make a decision in June next year which events they used to pick the Olympic team.
If they want to use Camperdown, officials have the option of the 2011 three-day event in early December or running a separate event all together.
“Should the selectors want we can stage an event at any time of year away from our regular events,” Mr Roycroft said.
“There were two selectors here last weekend, myself and the chairman of selectors, we discussed that and we’re hoping to fit something into our schedule,” he said.
Former Olympians Amanda Ross and Megan Jones and current Australian champion Emily Anker stole the show at the two-day event.
The trio took the top three spots in a 13-rider CIC three-star class, which included Timboon’s Shay Smith.
Smith, riding in the three-star class for the first time, finished 12th aboard her horse Hitmonchan.
Cobden’s Elizabeth Steel finished 13th of 30 in preliminary A class.
Mr Roycroft said riders used a new 90-metre by 90-metre showjumping and dressage arena for the first time during the event.

District rider will take on nation’s best competitors

The Colac Herald — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:50:16 +0000

A Winchelsea-based woman will compete against the best dressage riders in the country at the national Dressage with the Stars competition.
Up-and-coming dressage star Stephanie Dijkstra will compete on the Warmblood mare Cipriani.
The mare placed fifth in the four-year-old class at Dressage with the Stars in 2009, and will this year compete in the more advanced five-year-old class.
“It is really exciting to be taking the mare back for a second year,” Ms Dijkstra said.
“A lot of work goes in to qualify and prepare for the event so it is very rewarding to see it all come together,” she said.
Ms Dijkstra and Cipriani placed third with a score of 81 per cent in the 5-year-old class at the state championships in December, which was a major qualifying class for Dressage with the Stars.
Ms Dijkstra has been steadily building her Winchelsea-based business since she returned from 18 months of training in Holland with the world number one dressage rider, Anky Van Grunsven.
Ms Dijkstra used the knowledge and skills she had acquired in Europe to establish a business breeding and training horses and coaching riders, as well as set up an online store selling equestrian apparel.
“It is hard to juggle running the business with teaching and competing,” Ms Dijkstra said.
“But it is very rewarding, everything is coming together and growing and it is wonderful to be constantly improving on the competing side of things.”

DRESSAGE STAR: Stephanie Dijkstra will compete at national competition in March.

Lifeline for jumps racing

Matt Murnane — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:25:24 +0000

Colac’s jumps racing crusader Terry Mulder has hailed yesterday’s one-year lifeline as an opportunity to save the sport.
But he warned Racing Victoria Limited’s provisional agreement to sanction jumps racing in Victoria for an extra year was not a viable long-term solution.
RVL granted the sport a second chance yesterday, agreeing to the continuation of jumps racing into 2011 with the option of a further three years.
But the sport’s future is subject to the jumps racing industry achieving RVL’s stringent set of conditions in the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
While key industry players trumpeted the announcement, Mr Mulder said the sport could not survive on year-to-year guarantees.
“It’s good news and I think everyone would agree it’s a positive step,” Mr Mulder said.
“But uncertainty still hangs over the head of jumps racing,” he said.
“There needs to be a 10-year strategy put in place for the sport to have any future.
“Otherwise, there’s no encouragement for trainers and new owners to invest and take it seriously.”
The opposition transport minister and former jumps trainer called on RVL to use the reprieve to re-invent the sport in the country.
Mr Mulder wants RVL to back his proposal to make south-west Victoria the state’s new jumps racing headquarters, allowing six country racing clubs to form an administrative alliance.
Under Mr Mulder’s proposal, Colac would play a key role as a training centre for relocating jumps trainers.
“This at least now gives us a chance to deal with a lot of the issues in my proposal about fixing the jumps and fatality rates,” Mr Mulder said.
“Ultimately, RVL needs to hand over administration to an outside body with a headquarters, I believe, that should be situated in south-west Victoria,” he said.
RVL’s tentative backflip, spurred by a report compiled by Melbourne Racing Club vice-chairman Mike Symons, comes less than two months after RVL announced the 2010 jumps season would be the last.
Essentially, the future of jumps racing hinges on the industry’s ability to achieve RVL’s three key performance indicators – fatalities, falls and field sizes – this season.
“If the new requirements are not met in 2010, jumps racing will cease at the end of that season and a transition fund will be established to assist jockeys and trainers,” RVL chairman Michael Duffy said yesterday.
“If the jumps racing community meets the new conditions in both the 2010 and 2011 seasons, then RVL will commit to a further three-year program.”

Sprinter races for $500,000

Aidan Fawkes — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:16 +0000

Colac-trained sprinter Secret Flyer has a chance to join champion horses Sunline, Redoute’s Choice and Miss Andretti as a winner of the Manikato Stakes.
The Mark Young-trained six-year-old has earned a start from barrier three in the $500,000 group one race over 1200 metres at Moonee Valley tonight and will enter about an $11 chance with Victorian punters.
Young said his gelding was a “genuine chance” but has “got to lift his game” in a class field that includes Apache Cat, Nicconi, Mic Mac and Swift Alliance.
Nicconi, trained by David Hayes, is a $3.80 favourite and won at his last start, the group three McEwen Stakes over 1000 metres.
Secret Flyer ran third in the same race and Young admitted the result did count for something heading into tonight’s race.
“It does and his form previous to that, he’s won two races at group one level before that,” Young said.

For the full story, see the current edition of The Colac Herald.

Show honour for Colac horse enthusiast

Ben Martin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:05:25 +0000

A Colac horse enthusiast has defied the odds to win one of the Royal Adelaide Show’s most prestigious events.
Lucinda Fraser’s two horses both won championships at the show.
Three-year-old filly Royal Minuet finished first and reserve in the Champion Australian Saddle Pony Filly class and second in the Riding Pony Filly class.
But two-year-old gelding Holly’s Tribute was the star of the show, winning the title of Champion Australian Saddle Pony Gelding and Champion Riding Pony Gelding before taking out the title of Supreme Champion Riding Pony of the Royal Show.
Fraser said she was elated when she won.

For the full story, see the current edition of The Colac Herald.

One mistake costs top rider

Matt Murnane — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:48:36 +0000

One mistake was all it took to squash Mark Slater’s hopes of outclassing Olympic-calibre riders at a three-day equestrian event.
Colac’s leading show jumper was aiming for a top-10 finish at the prestigious Melbourne event but stumbled in the cross country stage on Sunday.
Slater was well placed after the dressage stage of the competition, sitting just 10 points off the leader going into the cross country – usually his strongest discipline.
But his horse Astro failed to clear an obstacle half way through the second stage, sending itself and Slater to the ground for an automatic disqualification.
“When you compete at this level all the jumps are so technical that it doesn’t give you any margin for error,” Slater said.

For the full story, see the current edition of The Colac Herald.

Trainer will quit without funding

Matt Murnane — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:08:43 +0000

Colac trainer Len Porter will quit the horse racing business if Colac Turf Club loses its industry training centre funding.
Porter is the first Colac district trainer to declare his intentions as Colac Turf Club waits to hear about its future.
Racing Victoria Limited will unveil the final draft of its industry directions paper on Tuesday and Colac district’s racing industry is bracing itself for the ramifications to its training base at Colac racecourse.
Under the first directions paper draft, the RVL proposed to phase out training centre funding in Colac, starting in August 2010, and outlined a vision for Colac district trainers to relocate to three regional training venues in south-west Victoria.
But representative from the three venues in question – Warrnambool, Hamilton and Geelong – have all told The Colac Herald they could not accommodate an influx of trainers.

For the full story, see the current edition of The Colac Herald.

Colac junior riders put on game faces

Cayley Robinson — Fri, 01 May 2009 02:12:39 +0000

Colac junior riders put on their game faces and braved wild weather conditions to earn a place in a state equestrian competition.
Twelve riders represented the Colac Pony Club at the Barwon zone round of the state games competition.
The two teams of six demonstrated their riding skills at the games at Ballan on Sunday.
Pony club president Heather Anderson said equestrian games events tested riders’ skill, manoeuvrability, horse control, precision and speed.
“Six teams start out and they have heats and it’s the first across the line,” Mrs Anderson said.
Colac’s first team of Sarah Gamble, Hannah Coutts, Sarah, Grace and Bonnie Anderson and Chloe Tangey put in a solid performance and finished in fourth place.

For the full story see the current edition of The Colac Herald.